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"Have you ever stayed in a hotel before?"
"No."
He grunted like he expected that answer. "This is not what I consider nice, and I've stayed in some serious hellholes. Gavin didn't splurge on his honeymoon."
"Oh."
He tucked the gun back into his waistband and I realized why I hadn't seen it before. His jacket was covering it. "Why are you living in a storage room of a bakery in downtown LA?" He turned his attention from the window to me.
"It's convenient." I shrugged.
"Or you can't afford a place?"
I didn't reply as I stood awkwardly between the bed and the bathroom.
"Now tell me what's going on."
Uh oh. Shoot.
I had to keep Magnum out of this and hope that Gavin returned.
If Tommy and Kenny found out I was hanging out with a commando who might be a cop, they'd kill me. And if Magnum found out too much, they'd kill him.
Where was Gavin? Why didn't he show up for our wedding today? Was it all too much of a risk for him?
When I'd told him about my predicament, he'd acknowledged getting engaged was a crazy idea. We'd only been dating a few months, but after he got over the initial shock, he seemed like he was eager to marry me to help get Kenny off my case. He'd said he loved me. He'd given me hope this wasn't the tragedy it looked like.
Maybe Magnum was right and Gavin was delayed for reasons he couldn't control, but why didn't he call me and tell me he wasn't going to be there?
"I'm getting tired of repeating myself, little bird, so tell me what's going on now and save us both some trouble."
Chapter 6 Honeymoon Confession
Magnum
"Nothing's going on." She tried to hide it, but I didn't miss the way she dug her fingernails into her forearm.
Through the lace of her sleeves, it was obvious those damn marks on her arms had gotten worse. She was stressed and self harming.
Whatever secret she was keeping had led her to recklessly marry her fiancé's brother today.
My thoughts jumbled as I finished clearing the room and checking the front of the hotel for the tail. My brother's girl had worked some kinda spell on me today. Crying in her wedding dress in the rain, the raw terror on her face, I couldn't leave her there. Then when she'd agreed to go through with it, the words of the officiant had speared through my armor and left me defenseless. She had me saying all kinds of things I would never say.
I normally didn't allow myself to experience emotions like that. Deep, gooey, warm, affectionate feelings were banned in my world. I certainly never made empty promises or even hinted that I would do anything except fuck a woman and leave promptly. But when it had been my turn to make a vow to Wren, the least I could do was promise her she'd always be protected and I'd always tell her the truth.
Something about her eyes, the secrets there, the tender depth of them. She wasn't the fancy prep-school girl I'd originally thought. The dress was obviously second-hand and cheap. The way she clung to those gas station carnations likethey were good enough for her. The crap ring on her pretty fingers. All of it was wrong and so unfair.
Fuck Gavin for doing this to her. Giving her hope. Lying to her. That's what this was all about. The lie Gavin told her that made her so desperate today.
I had to make it right somehow, even though it wasn't me she wanted. I was the wrong guy, but I was close enough to pretend.
Then I found out she lived in a bakery in a rundown neighborhood, and we were being followed. That's when this all became very real. Now it was important that she told me the truth, so we could make sure she was safe from whatever mess Gavin had dragged her into.
"Who followed us here?" I asked her.
"I didn't see anyone following us." She raised her chin and shook her head, but she didn't take her fingernails off her arm.
Lie number one. She'd had her eyes glued to the Merc the whole time, and she'd breathed a huge sigh of relief when we'd lost it. Her dishonesty lit a flame of annoyance inside me. Why lie? Why not just tell the truth so we could work together on this?
